Haredim are attacking women in the haredi area of Geula/Mea Shearim in Jerusalem, spraying bleach on clothing these fanatics determine to be "immodest." The victims are largely haredi themselves. Ynet reports …

10 responses to “Haredim Attack Women In Jerusalem”

Get a bunch of women to march down the streets of these Haredi neighborhoods wearing nothing but bikinis and high heels (maybe with guns slung around their waists for protection or just to say, “I dare you mofos!”, or better yet, rifles like they’re in the Army). Maybe thay can clang pots or something like college Take Back The Night marches.

Then they will know what REAL “immodesty” means!

I wonder what would happen. It would be easy to assume a riot would break out, but if we had, say 1000 or even 10,000 women marching through Mea She’arim or Geulah in bikinis with rifles slung over their shoulders (hee hee, the Million Bikini March), maybe the Haredim would be in too much shock, too intimidated or at least outgunned, so to speak, to do anything significant about it.

I bet you a decent number of rabidly secular women from North Tel-Aviv would actually sign up to do it, too.

“Did we fail to see the part that said “The victims are largely haredi themselves.” – Bare Dove

Yes I DID see that the victims are mostly Haredi, but that is besides teh point. The point is that they really do NOT have teh right to physically attack women over what they are wearing.

The fact is that in the past, secular women HAVE been attacked by self-appointed “tznius police” in Jerusalem (I remember news reports in the mid and late 90s of secular women who worked at government buildings in Jerusalem being physically attacked because despite being dressed relatively conservatively (as they were going to work, after all), their elbows and forearms were exposed and this was oh,such an affront. Goon squads in these neighborhoods are very old news.

So, I see this as more of a women’s issue and not so much a religious issue. A “Bikin March” would have secular women sticking up for religious women, a rather cool idea (though some might find it kind of condescending and “paternalistic”).

However, you CAN’T have taken this “bikini march” thing seriously. When confronted with idiocy like this sometimes all you can do is poke fun at it.

A myth has been allowed to be perptuated in that part of Jerusalem. The citizens actually believe that they live in a private enclave from which they can ban anything they don’t like. And, most shockingly, they’ve managed to convince an awful lot of “outsiders” that this is okay, too!

And while I have some form of admiration for their strict adherence to the Shulchan Aruch, apparently, news never got through to that part of the world that Torah (and Koran, btw- just to draw an uncomfortable parallel) is not meant to be lived in a vacuum.

A “take back the night” type approach is probably up the right alley, but bikinis are probably going a little too far (unless you’re also trying to make some point about adherence to kashrus?… smirk).

The demonstration needs to be made by those in Israeli society who are so sick and tired of a certain (unnatural)way of life that is allowed by their and the secular government’s complacency. The message needs to be sent by the MO factions, too, that if you’re going to live in a city with public streets, you really can’t burn down stores and throw bleach at women. And where are the police?

If these haredim insist on living lives so far removed from the perceived evils of the world, I’d recommend a nice cave in Afghanistan where they’d have more than a few like-minded neighbors. Or they can just stay in their basements. I’m okay with either choice, just get ’em off the streets.

Interestingly, something similar has just happend in Long Beach where a group of girls dressed up as a group of superheroes called the Underwear Girls or something like that. They got in trouble with the principal.

“How in the world would doing something that is completely offensive to the women you proclaim to be sticking up for make any sense.” – Bare Dove

I feel like you are simply not getting it. First of all, many Israeli women already walk around in not much more than bikinis in the summer. The point was shock value. Walking around in bikinis could very well be more liberating to some than demeaning. However, Shmarya’s suggestion that they just wear shorts and t-shirts (or tank tops?) is more realistic (and would get more women to buy in).

People from California have told me that people there DO walk around in bikinis. I tried this once in Ramat Aviv and felt self conscious but mostly because I am not used to it. However, in the context of a demonstration, with people perhaps carrying placards and shouting slogans, it would have a point and would draw attention to the protestors’ message.

Something else I thought of: during the annual Dyke March (a Lesbian parade that usually happens the day after the Gay Pride Parade in the summer) women march down the street (though, granted, in The Village), STRAIGHT UP TOPLESS!

That’s right, women with BARE BREASTS march down 5th Avenue once a year (and I think some of them have percussion instruments that they play as they march). They do it to make a point. And they’re lesbians, so it’s more of a feminist point and not to titillate men.

A Bikini or Immodesty March could be a similar thing but involving straight women in Haredi neighborhoods in Israel.

Well, I for one would like to see the Bikini march, but only if the women were hot. But, seriously, it is ultimately the responsibility of the women who were assaulted to make a complaint and file charges against the perpetrators and a responsibility of the Israel police to enforce the law and arrest them. That’s it. Neither will happen though.

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